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KS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PD BOX 3585
TOPEKA, KS 66601-3585
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Kansan
Monday
November 24, 1997
Section:
A
Vol. 108 • No. 68
Unseasonably hot and sunny
Vol.108·No.68
Inside today
Four KU students ventured to New York City this weekend after winning a contest Friday night at Ellsworth Residence Hall.
Sports today
Paul Pierce helped the Jayhawks advance to the semifinals of the Chase Preseason NIT by scoring 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
SEE PAGE 4A
SEE PAGE 8A
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Janitor finds cutting edge in Coke
(USPS 650-640)
Officials investigate razor blade in bottle
Mark Swisher, a custodian at Ellsworth Hall, holds up a bottle of Coke containing a razor blade. Swisher said he opened the bottle, took a small drink and then saw a razor blade at the bottom.
Photo by Geoff Krieger/KANSAN
By Sarah McWilliams
smcwilliams@kanson.com
Kanson staff writer
A custodian at Ellsworth Hall claims he found a single-edge razor blade Thursday in a bottle of Coca-Cola that he bought from a vending machine in the hall's basement.
Mark Swisher, a custodian at Ellsworth, said the taste of the Coke had made him suspicious.
"I opened the bottle and took a drink, and it didn't taste right." Swisher said.
After Swisher put on the cap, he heard a clink from the bottle, he said. He then took it to two fellow custodians in his break room.
The three looked inside the bottle and saw a single-edge razor blade, Swisher said.
"I can't repeat what my response was," Swisher said.
Kevin Morris, vice president of public affairs for the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Mid-America Inc. in Lenexa, said Swisher had called the company about the razor blade Thursday.
Morris said that the company had contacted the federal Food and Drug Administration.
"We take these matters very,very seriously," he said.
The company has not received any similar complaints from the University, Morris said.
Morris said he could not say how the razor ended up in the bottle or if someone had put it there.
"We're investigating the matter, but it's far too early to speculate." he said.
KU police officer Robert Williams, who also is investigating the incident, was not available for comment. KU police representatives said yesterday that they had no further information about the incident.
Karaoke for a cause
Fei He, China graduate student, sings during a Karaoke contest Saturday night at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union. The contest, which was a preparation for the spring festival that will be held
at the end of January, was sponsored by the Chinese Student and Scholar Friendship Association. Photo by Augustus Anthony Piazza/KANSAN
University still faces rec-center woes
Group hopes to find acceptable solution
By Tim Harrington tharrington@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
By Tim Harrington
Two years ago, KU students voted down a referendum to build a new student recreation center.
The University Recreation Advisory Board has been charged with finding an acceptable solution.
The referendum failed, most likely because of a proposed four-year $90 increase in student fees. But students continue to complain about the inadequacy of Robinson Center.
The students, faculty and administrators that form the
Mary Chappell, recreation services director, said the group was trying to determine what students wanted.
group discussed possible solutions Thursday.
The University is concerned with recreation reform because Robinson is primarily an academic center. The center has been unable to meet the recreational needs of KU students, a problem Chappell said the University has faced since the 90s.
Common complaints are that the center lacks up-to-date equipment, and that not enough of the center's services are available during the day.
"If it's the right deal, they'll pay for it," she said.
At Thursday's meeting, Chappell referred to an article in "Athletic Business" magazine
In all three examples, student payment began after the center had opened. The KU referendum would have begun student payment immediately, and there was no guarantee that students who paid the fee would be around to use the center after it opened.
Using the articles as a guide, the board discussed when students would begin to pay for the center.
that compared successful referrals at three universities.
"Nobody wants to pay for something they won't get it use," said Danny Kaiser, boar member and Student Organizations and Leadership Development Center director.
Jason Fitzell, board member and Olathe senior, proposed cuts to the $19 million dollar cost of the originally proposed center. He also suggested building a recreation center solely for student use between Robinson and the Computer Center.
Another common characteristic among the successful referendums was administrative
Football player no longer facing battery charges in district court
Mike Walden, board chairman, said he would send a resolution to Student Senate asking the KU administration to make recreation reform a priority.
support
"I'm not intending for this to be a solution just someplace to go from here," he said.
Fitzell said that the center would be smaller and less expensive than the originally proposed design, but that by being connected to Robinson, students could still utilize the existing resources there.
Teammate to stand trial for his role in same incident
By Mary Corcoran
Kansan staff writer
A district judge dropped charges of aggravated battery against a KU football player Thursday after ruling that the man the player had admitted to punching was not the same person whom prosecutors said he hit.
Randle: No longer faces criminal charges.
At a preliminary hearing in the Douglas County Courthouse, defensive back
Avery Randle admitted to hitting a "white male" who does not fit the description of Mayoor Patel, the victim named by prosecutors. Patel is of Indian heritage and has a dark complexion.
District Judge Paula Martin ruled the discrepancy was cause for the charges to be dropped
Randle was facing charges after a fight on Sept. 13.
Randle's teammate, tight end Jason Gulley, is facing similar charges. The judge ruled that Gulley would have to stand trial on a charge of aggravated battery. His trial has been set for Feb. 2.
Patel, a 19-year-old student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and his two friends Christopher Ruddle and Brian Wilson, both Lawrence sophomores, said they had been attacked by the two football plavers Sept. 13.
The three alleged victims said they had been walking in front of Jayhawker Towers on their way to The Jayhawk Cafe, 1340 Ohio St., when they were attacked.
Wilson and Ruddle said they had seen five to seven cars stop in front of the Towers and about 20 men had gotten out of the cars. They said that some of the men had been wearing KU football shirts.
The men started to shout and hit them, Wilson and Ruddle said, but they did not know why they were attacked.
Patel said he did not remember the fight itself but that he did remember being treated by paramedics. Patel lost two teeth in the incident.
Termaine Fulton, wide receiver, said at the hearing at least one of the alleged victims had shouted profanities as the cars drove by. He also said punches had not been thrown until Patel threw a cup of beer on Randle.
New policy adds litter to athletic department
Changes do not allow for paper recycling
By Kristie Blasi
by kristine blast
kblasi@kansan.com
Sports editor
The offices in Allen Field House and the Wagon Student-Athlete Center have more trash.
Janelle Martin, associate athletics director, said aluminum, plastic, newspapers and office paper had been recycled but that the staff advisory committee had decided to change the policy.
The Kansas University Athletic Commission changed its recycling policy in athletic department offices to exclude newspaper and office paper. The policy went into effect Wednesday.
"As a committee, we made the decision that it's more than we can handle right now."
said. "We dropped the newspaper and office paper just because it is getting out of control."
Janelle Martin associate athletics director
The committee includes representatives of all offices within the athletic department, and its purpose is to keep KUAC operations organized.
"As a committee, we made the decision that it's more than we can handle right now."
including keeping in contact with the Bonner Springs-based recycling company.
Martin said the committee had experienced difficulty in maintaining pickup schedules with the private recycling company.
All affected offices were notified of the new policy via an office memo sent the week of Nov. 10, about a week and a half before the change was effective.
"Obviously we have a lot of papers coming out of the offices down here. We're dropping the paper portion," Martin said. "We're going to wait and catch up with the campus when it has University-wide recycling."
Victoria Silva, environmental specialist and program manager in the Office of Resource Conservation and Recycling, said that a recycling program for the University was months away.
"I would hope that we would have a full-blown recycling program that could be campus-wide within the next six to 12 months," she said.
Silva said her office was accepting bids for proposals from recycling companies. The proposals involve collecting two grades of paper, newspaper, cardboard, aluminum and plastic.
University officials have identified the types of containers they want to use for recycling. However, the container types will depend upon the buildings in which they are placed.
"The plan is still in progress," Silva said. "Bids won't close for a couple more weeks. We haven't ordered the containers yet because we found out from the state fire marshal that they want to find out about all of the containers Regents schools consider."
Silva said she was surprised that the athletic department had changed its policy.
"It's my understanding that they were willing to finance services," she said. "I'm surprised that they're not looking at a local company as a temporary solution. We're months away from being able to help them."
Martin said that the committee had explored local options after deciding to cancel the contract with the company based in Bonner Springs.
"It was too expensive," she said. "We encouraged people to still recycle on their own if they could. We're hoping that it's not going to be too long before the University reaches a decision."
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